Easiest Green Wedding Souvenirs
A Lipote tree seedling is fresh green way to start a new beginning, your Green Tree Wedding Giveaway
The search for unique and stylish wedding souvenirs can be quite an exhausting and frustrating. Each couple would want to make a great impression, share their interest and style, and hope that their guests would love their little tokens of appreciation as much as they have put in so much effort in it, while, of course, keeping within their budget.
However, most often than not, couples would only achieve one or two of these but not all. More regrettable still, though most guests would want more than one of these souvenirs, in reality this just gathers dust, and ultimately land in the trashbin.
So why not give something, that you hope your guests does “throw” away (as long as it lands on some good patch of dirt).
Giving tree seedlings is easily customizable, you can choose your containers or even provide your own. Starting at P20, there is something for every budget.
These can be flowering plants, herbs and even tree seedlings.
The Pros:
- The possibilities are endless – You can choose something that will complement your theme, color, etc. From origin, meaning to shape and style, there is bound to be something that would match your wedding. You can go for the basics to the more exotic, you are only limited with your imagination.
- Twice too many can be just as good - Chances are even if your guests receive the same souvenirs, it would still be just as welcome. You can never have too many basils or rosemaries especially when you’re a greenhorn at gardening.
- Quite inexpensive – You can get very creative even at the barest of budgets, without even trying, I was able to find Php20-30 seedlings.
- It’s a No-brainer – In terms of packaging, as long as you get a good supplier who can give you a good batch, good growth and lush leaves, you don’t need to do much with.
- Of course, you help out the environment – Not only do you help possibly reduce on waste, you help with the greening of the city without trying too hard.
Sources:
- Neighborhood nurseries – ex. Manila Seedling, White Plains garden strip, etc.
- Provincial nurseries – too many really just travel from Calamba to Los Banos, Laguna
- Goverment agencies
- Sunday markets - Lung Center Sunday Market, Legaspi Market, etc.
- Independent nurseries
Organize your own Tree Planting Day as another wedding or pre-wedding day celebration.
Hortica Filipina is one such independent nursery. They have already started help “green” Pinoy weddings and have made their tree seedlings to match any budget, from Php20 – P200 or any in between or beyond. They can provide it in containers so couples would not need to do much with packaging, starting at P80. Or, they can just give you the seedlings and you can use whatever pot, packaging you think would be appropriate for your wedding.
Another thing that I found quite noble with Hortica Filipina is their thrust in promoting local varieties to help repropagate our natural biodiversity. Something we sorely need to do, if we are to help bring balance back to our environment, and hopefully, we can see less and less of Ondoys and Pepengs come our way.
3 ways to do the Green Tree Giveaway with the help of Hortica Filipina:
- Give tree seedlings – this you can do on your wedding day as ordinary souvenirs
- Organize a Tree Planting Day – this Hortica Filipina will organize for you with The Department of Education as to what public school the tree seedlings will be planted. You can make a day of it with your guests again and make your wedding celebration last for more than a day. This is great if you are not sure whether your guests will have the inclination to plant their own tree nor have the space for it.
- Pledge a Tree – If you are a San Beda Alumni, you make it more than a tree planting experience and make a new beginning for someone literally come true. With the Red Lions Living Highways, for Php2,500.00 you pledge to have a tree planted along NLEX and send someone to school.
Pledge a tree with the Red Lions Living Highways
Thinking about it, if I were to give a tree, it would probably be an Ylang-ylang, a friend gave out narra seedlings. How about you? What do you think would be a great tree to give out on weddings?
————————————————-
Hortica Filipina
(632)9869570
hortica.filipina@gmail.com
————————————————-
Be Happy. Be Healthy. be wHole.
Make the Quaint things count,
Theresa
Blog: MyQuaintLife.com
Follow me on twitter: MyQuaintLife
Follow me on Facebook: MyQuaintLife
Filed under Green Weddings by .
Comments on Easiest Green Wedding Souvenirs
11:48 pm
I like this idea ha
“May this tree grow as the love in our marriage grows” ;p May ganun! Hehehehe
5:44 pm
@didi: May ganun talaga dapat! hahaha
1:05 am
thanks! i am also having a green wedding in january and was looking for local resources. we were also looking at treeplanting instead of the usual shower/stag parties
10:11 pm
Wow! that’s great to hear : ) My best wishes on your upcoming wedding. I hope you can share your pics here as well : )
7:57 pm
@Theresa: I can share with you the welcome page of our wed-site so you can see our suppliers and the green choices we made for our new life together
Welcome to our wedding website! This site will enable us to reduce the amount of paper needed to share important information with each of you.
We want to make our wedding sustainable, so allow us to introduce you to our eco-chic theme. We’re not hardcore environmental activists; we just want to make a difference by making the right choices. After all, marriage is about confirming our commitment to a long-term future together.
Green Choices We’ve Made
* Rings – Our green wedding started with the engagement ring: a beautiful family heirloom from Jason’s grandfather.
* Location – We chose an historical landmark like Paco Park over a formal, energy-sucking reception hall. The rental fee we pay will help maintain the building and grounds, and the reception will also be held right outside the church to minimize the amount of driving our guests will need to do.
* Wedding Wear – Jason will use a barong tagalog he already has. Jemps’ dress will be made out of existing material given by Jason’s uncle. The maid-of-honor, bridesmaids and flower girls will wear infinity dresses they can wear again. We encourage the rest of our entourage to use something they already have or have clothes made from banana, hemp, bamboo, organic cotton or silk
* Catering – We will feast on delicious organic/local food by Bizu (http://bizupatisserie.com). We are considering vegetarian selections and cruelty-free poultry; wild instead of farmed fish, and organic local coffee, tea and chocolate. This means not only a potentially healthier menu, but also less fuel consumption and less air pollution. While organic menus tend to be more expensive, we are committed to the cause and will cut back in other less crucial areas.
* Photography – Guj Tungpalan (http://redsheepphotography.com/) will help save on paper and toxic chemicals by using digital cameras and producing digital proofs, which we can print as required. We request friends with digi-cams to share their photos with all the guests online in our wedding photo site: http://jempsandjason.theweddinglens.com/
* Invitations – We will use opportunities to reduce paper use, like doing away with multi-enveloped/inserted invites, sending save-the-date invitations via email and using this wedding blog to keep people updated. For those un-wired, we will send tree-free, recycled paper invites locally made by Airees Rondain (http://handcraftedexpressions.com/)
* Flowers – We will use as many potted (topiaries) plants/organic/local growers as we can. There will be no cut flowers since they are mostly imported and are heavy pesticide users (fake flowers are not an option; the process to create them is more environmentally-damaging). Practical hand-made clutches made of old newspapers and twine by UpCycled (http://www.upcycled.multiply.com) will replace bouquets.
* Decor – We chose soy-based candles by Alice Blue Candles (http://www.alicebluecandle.com/) over those made with paraffin, a petroleum byproduct. Centerpieces will be edible to reduce landfill waste.
* Honeymoon – We are going local (we’re going to be spending a lot of time in that hotel room anyway)! On our way to and from Boracay, we have chosen to offset our carbon emissions caused by our plane travel . Cebu Pacific has partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) through the “Bright Skies” programme (http://www.cebupacificair.com/wwfbrightskies/) to fight global warming and climate change. In our bid to do our share in environmental conservation, we have donated a minimal amount during our online booking process, which will be used to support WWF-Philippines’ community-based climate adaptation project in Sablayan, Mindoro.
Taking little green steps is better than turning a blind eye because each thoughtful act helps. We want to celebrate our wedding ethically because it’s a satisfying way to begin our new life of commitment together and a good way to guide the industry to do even more ecologically-correct practices.
Doing something about climate change is our generation’s mission, just like securing our country’s freedom or fighting for equal rights was the goal of previous generations. Making the right choices will not always be economical, but we consider it as a tax we voluntarily pay for using the Earth. We want you to experience that we can have a great wedding even while being more aware.
Every green choice makes a difference – no matter how small!
12:57 pm
Hi Teresa,
This is a great idea. I am also preparing for my wedding and is seriously thinking of giving plants as souvenirs. Cheap and eco-friendly. So nice.
P.S.
I’m new to your blog and I love it.
6:10 pm
Yay, we have locally-made soy candles?